Massive Big Sur landslide could keep highway closed for year

BIG SUR, Calif. (AP) — Officials say a massive landslide in Big Sur could keep a portion of California's iconic coastal highway closed for a year and cost millions of dollars to fix.

The East Bay Times (http://bayareane.ws/2r69y1M ) quotes state officials Friday saying the landslide was still moving, a week after more than a million tons of dirt and rock tumbled down a hillside along Highway 1.

Caltrans spokesman Jim Shivers says the agency might be able to construct a one-lane road, but "it may take up to a year before it is fully open."

Last weekend's landslide created a 40-foot (12-meter) layer of rock and dirt along the narrow, winding road. It is covering up about a quarter-mile (0.40-kilometer) stretch of Highway 1 in an area called Mud Creek.